MCA DIVISIONAL meetings will discuss if the party should part ways with Barisan Nasional before a final decision is expected to be made at its annual general assembly later this year.
This follows growing dissatisfaction among its leaders and grassroots over how the party is being sidelined by Umno.
According to reports in The Straits Times, MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong told top leaders to use the divisional meetings that began on June 1 to propose whether it should remain in BN and on what terms.
When contacted by ST, Wee confirmed that divisional delegate assemblies will “talk about the future and direction of the party”, although he refused to “anticipate or make a conclusion now” on what the 191 MCA divisions nationwide will propose.
Party officials said if MCA opted to leave BN, it could also form a new alliance with smaller parties like MUDA and the Socialist Party of Malaysia or it may even join Perikatan Nasional, led by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The sentiment from early divisional meets in the first half of June – largely from the traditional stronghold states of Johor and Pahang – has pointed towards calling for BN to part ways with PH once elections are called.
According to ST, the latest incident that jarred MCA-Umno relations came during the Ayer Kuning by-election in Perak in April, when DAP deputy chairman Nga Kor Ming was joined by Umno campaigners in chanting “Umdap mantap”.
The chant was seen as an attempt to normalise what was previously a derogatory portmanteau of the two former bitter rivals.
The “Umdap” term is often used by opposition figures to suggest that both Umno and the DAP have betrayed their principles and supporters by working together.
“We can see that Umno is cooperating well with DAP and PKR, while MCA seems to be treated as if it does not exist,” Kuantan MCA chief Ti Lian Ker, a former party vice-president, said in a March podcast.
He is among several senior figures who are concerned about the party’s relevance within the BN framework, saying that “it is becoming increasingly apparent we are going to be left out” at the next general election, due by early 2028.
In April, MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon also stressed the need for decisive action, with BN having been given more than two years to recalibrate after the last election.
